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Carmine Falcone
Carmine "The Roman" Falcone is a fictional character in DC Comics' shared universe, the DC Universe, who made his debut in the four part story Batman: Year One written by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli in 1987. Falcone is a powerful Mafia chieftain nicknamed "The Roman", where his stranglehold over Gotham City's organized crime is referenced as "The Roman Empire" at least once. Though his role in his debut story was almost non-existent, Falcone later appeared as major character in the Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale mini-series Batman: The Long Halloween. History In Batman: Year One, Falcone virtually runs the city, with the mayor, city council, and Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb under his influence. However, his power base comes under attack by the new mysterious and upcoming vigilante, Batman. In one scene, a dinner party is hosted by Falcone. It is attended by the commissioner and other corrupt high society members. When the issue of Batman is brought up in conversation, Commissioner Loeb's tries to assure Falcone that the new opponent may be a long term benefit. The assurance falls flat and Falcone's concern is justified subsequently by Batman's bold assault on the dinner party to announce that they will be delivered to justice. Despite Loeb's desperate attempts to stop him, Batman's attacks on Falcone's organization become even more brazen; Batman had The Roman's car dumped into the river, invaded his home, assaulted him, stripped him to his underwear, and left him hogtied to his bed. Humiliated, Falcone orders Batman killed. Batman is too elusive, however, as he later helps Catwoman attack the mafia head. Finally, Falcone orders police detective Jim Gordon's wife and child kidnapped to bring him to heel, but the plot is in part foiled by the Gordons while Batman rescues their child. Eventually, District Attorney Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon's investigations, with some secret assistance by Batman, restore law and order to Gotham; Loeb is forced to resign, and Falcone's power is put under threat by the new opposition he now faces. The plot of The Long Halloween involves a serial killer named Holiday targeting Gotham's crime families, with particular attention paid to the Falcone family. While fighting the criminal justice system, Falcone is desperately trying to get a grip on his once-powerful empire, and he resorts to hiring "freaks" in the form of what becomes Batman's Rogues Gallery. Falcone's son, Alberto, confessed to all of the Holiday killings, as he wanted his father to accept him into the family business, but it is important to note Harvey and Gilda Dent are at least somewhat responsible for them. Harvey Dent was in fact the initial suspect, and the suspicions directed toward him were in part responsible for the accident in which he became Two-Face. While Falcone played a large role in The Long Halloween, he was killed in the end, shot in the head by Two-Face. In Batman: Dark Victory, Falcone's grave is robbed and his body goes missing. His finger is cut off and sent to his daughter, Sofia Gigante, the new leader of the Falcone Family. This is described as an "old style message", signifying that someone is out to take everything away from the Falcone Family, crushing them both as a public, business organization in the crime world as well as literally killing members of the family. Not until the end it is revealed that Two-Face has Falcone's body, having frozen it using Mr. Freeze's cryogenic technology. In an epilogue, Selina Kyle visits Falcone's mausoleum and confesses, alone, that she has some evidence, though not conclusive, that she is his illegitimate daughter, which explains why she hated him so much. Prime Earth (New 52) In the New 52 continuity Carmine started his criminal operations during the late 20th century and becoming the leader of Gotham's Mob by driving it's former don Rex "The Lion" Calabrese out of Gotham. Like his original incarnation, Carmine earned the nickname "The Roman" for his ruthless strategy in his criminal operations. The Roman and his family ruled Gotham for many years and facilitated it's illegal drugs and weapons trade. Carmine started losing power when the Red Hood appeared in Gotham with his Red Hood Gang and quickly became the most powerful professional-criminal in Gotham City through means of using black-mail to acquire countless enforcers. Red Hood even murdered Carmine's cousin Luca by throwing him out of one of the blimps Luca used to smuggle high-tech weaponry into Gotham City during a raid. After the Red Hood disappeared and was presumed dead, Carmine suffered further hits due to the Batman and Catwoman. During the a major gang-war between the Riddler and the Joker called War of Jokes and Riddles, Falcone lost his share of Gotham's Criminal Underworld. The Joker had the Penguin (a gangster working for Falcone) betray Falcone and start working for him. Joker used information from Penguin to hunt down Carmine's mother in Metropolis, killed her, and stole her teeth. Joker then infiltrated Carmine's home with her teeth and formed a smile from her teeth on the table before murdering all of his henchmen. Joker mortally wounded Carmine then made it so that the Penguin would take his place and resources. Shortly after this Carmine fled Gotham City. In Other Media Television ''Batman: The Animated Series'' Although Carmine Falcone did not appear in Batman: The Animated Series, (as Rupert Thorne acted as the major non superpowered villain of the show) one of The Penguin's henchmen's name was stated as Falcone, and that could have been a nod to the character however Falcone is also the Italian word for Falcon and this could have simply been an allusion to Penguin's bird-gimmick. Gotham :See: Carmine Falcone (John Doman) Carmine Falcone appears on the tv show, Gotham, and is portrayed by John Doman. Films ''Batman Begins ''See: Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson) ''The Dark Knight Although he did not appear in ''The Dark Knight, Carmine Falcone was mentioned to still be at Arkham Asylum awaiting trial, which implied that he was administered Scarecrow's Fear Gas antitidote, and that he did not escape during the prison break. Crime bosses Sal Maroni and Gambol tried to take over the underworld in his absence. Falcone's mental health may still have been debatable as he awaited trial in Arkham Asylum instead of an actual prison facility. The Batman See: Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) Video Games Batman: Arkham Origins Falcone did not appear, although he was mentioned in the biography and Extortion Tapes of his son, Alberto Falcone. The Penguin forced Carmine out of the weapons business when he abducted and heavily tortured Alberto. One of Black Mask's Extortion Tapes also implied that Carmine and Roman were acquaintances. ''Batman: Arkham City Although Falcone himself didn't appear in ''Batman: Arkham City, his family name did. At closer inspection, the billboard said; "Falcone Warehousing and Storage." In his Interview Tape, Two-Face said that it was Falcone who started it all, which resulted into the deformity of his face; that may have been true, since Falcone persuaded Maroni to kill Harvey Dent at the latter mobster's trial and provided him with the disguised acid. Similarly, The Joker stated that the thugs who hired him and who he took to Ace Chemicals worked for Falcone (though it's unknown if that story was true), and thus placed Falcone as the man who unwittingly created The Clown Prince of Crime. There was also a boat in the North Gotham Docks that was from "Falcone Shipping". Scanning it answered the riddle: "Which notorious family keeps talking trash?" and unlocked an Arkham City Story which revealed that Falcone had tried to intimidate Mayor Quincy Sharp which resulted in his henchmen disappearing and Sharp striking back with TYGER, which closed down all of Falcone's operations in Gotham. He was referenced once again by a billboard for "Falcone Warehousing and Storage". Scanning it answered another one of The Riddler's riddles and the corresponding Arkham City Story revealed that the Falcones' had moved to Bludhaven rather than be contained in Arkham City. It was also implied that Falcone worked with Scarecrow, (though his known hatred of costumed supervillains brought that into question) since a notice in Scarecrow's boat revealed that Falcone had arranged for The Broker to supply him a more permanent base as well as the boat that was owned by Falcone Shipping. Arkhamverse Falcone is also confirmed to be the father of Selina Kyle AKA Catwoman. Batman: The Telltale Series See: Carmine Falcone (Telltale) The Lego Batman Movie Falcone is referenced in the Lego Batman Movie through a company called "Falcone's Legit Construction Co." which is a joke on how the company is probably a front for criminal activities. Two-Face also uses a Falcone's Legit Construction Co. crane which could be a joke on how Two-Face murdered Carmine at the end of the Long Halloween. Trivia * The character of Carmine Falcone was inspired by the character of Marlon Brando's character Don Vito Corleone from the Godfather film trilogy. His name is an allusion to the film as there is a crime-family called the Falcones in the film. * The scars on the side of Carmine's face which he received from Catwoman are an allusion to notorious real-life gangster Alphonse "Scarface" Capone. However Capone received his scars while making unwanted advances on a woman at a bar only for her brother to slash his face with a bottle-opener. Falcone, Carmine Category:Deceased Characters Category:Blackgate Prisoners